Utter ******** I'm afraidelwaclaret wrote: ↑Fri Dec 03, 2021 12:03 pmThe loan repayments for the war led to the further downturn in Britain’s fortunes… this became especially notable in the seventies and the “winter of discontent”. Britain was broke due to full dividends having to be paid after America insisted on full instalment and repayment in reaction to Harold Wilson refusing to send British troops to Vietnam… the anti Vietnam demonstrations that blamed Wilson for not being tougher on America were so far off base it was, with benefit of hindsight almost comical… today, many believe it ultimately cost Wilson the election.
There are several reasonable sources prepared to risk their reputations by suggesting they have seen documents from Churchill’s secret service warning Roosevelt not only that the Japs were on the move, that there destination was believed to be Pearl Harbour two weeks before the attack. Many historians believe Roosevelt moved the newest naval ships from Pearl Harbour as a result. Though this remains an area of research yet to convince the panel that make a history, academic quality history and so it rarely gets mentioned in fully published work ( appearing in “papers” and the odd Journal that are not quiet so rigorous with their interrogation of sources).
Its the sort of theory that sadly tv documentaries love to bandy about
British sources knew that the Japanese were coming for Malaya, and the US were about half way through a massive reinforcement drive for the Philippines (which included moving the Pacific Fleet from San Diego to Pearl Harbour, because its a lot closer)
Essentially, the window for war from a Japanese point of view was short, because the US would have been substantially reinforced in the Philippines and every month the Japanese waited, the US got stronger
Don't get me wrong btw, there is no doubt that neither side was serious about peace, and both probably wanted war, but the idea that the US deliberately kept the defences at both Philippines and PH unprepared is (and has proved to be) complete BS
Both US bases had differently reasons for being caught completely by surprise
PH, because no one expected or knew what the Japanese navy was really capable of (massed carrier strikes were completely unknown, remember Taranto was from one RN carrier) and the whole island was caught with its pants down
The Philippines has 12 hours warning, and the leadership of McArthur and his complete failure to act, plus some extremely good luck on the side of the Japanese (Fog in Formosa meant that the raids on Clark Field and Manila were delayed, so they arrived just as the CAP was setting down to refuel, and the bombers had just returned from an aborted attack on Formosa) meant that they caught most of the aircraft on the ground, and with the destruction of the US bombers and fighters, the Philippines were impossible to hold
But is a nice theory for selling stuff isn't it?